This application relates to and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Applications No. 10-24869, 10-25393, 10-36124 and 10-152888 filed on Feb. 5, 1998, Feb. 6, 1998, Feb. 18, 1998 and Jun. 2, 1998, respectively.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for communicating vehicle information with an external management station through a radio signal.
2. Related Art
It is known by JP-A-6-102148 to transmit vehicle information such as a vehicle inspection result (diagnosis information regarding an abnormality in an engine-related part) on the vehicle side from the vehicle to a management station serving as a competent authority by a radio communication. The management station instructs the user of the vehicle to repair the vehicle.
In such a system, it is necessary to construct so that the vehicle is equipped with an apparatus for transmitting and receiving information by radio (transponder) and information regarding an inspection is acquired by a control unit mounted on the vehicle and is sent from the control unit to the transponder.
In case of a system in which the vehicle side is passive in such a manner that a request to transmit information regarding the inspection is sent from the management station side to the vehicle and the transponder which received the transmission request transmits the information regarding the inspection to the management station side, the following inconvenience occurs. Since it is unknown when the transmission request from the management station side is sent, the system has to be constructed on the vehicle side so as to always respond to the request. For this purpose, for example, it is necessary to set a transponder and control units mounted on the vehicle always in an ON state. Generally, in the state where the engine is stopped, however, the battery mounted on the vehicle is not charged. In the method of always setting the components in the ON state, the battery is likely to run down in a short time because of the electric power consumed by the transponder and control units.
In this regard, for instance, in the diagnosis system disclosed in JP-A-6-102148, an information processor is set in a xe2x80x9csleepxe2x80x9d state when an ignition switch is not turned on, and the power source is turned on by a call from a base station serving as the management station to execute a responding process. In this diagnosis system, vehicle information is transmitted in response to the call from the management station side irrespective of the result of diagnosis to be transmitted (whether abnormal or normal). It is therefore necessary that the system has to wait at least in the sleep state, so that the power consumption of the battery occurs. In the case where the vehicle information surely shows an abnormality, considering the urgency of handling also in the management station side which received the information, even if there is a disadvantage of power consumption of the battery, it is considered that the responding process should be preferentially executed. When the vehicle information shows a normal state, however, the handling also in the management station side which received the information is not so urgent and the information is basically used as rather information for confirmation.
Even if the user voluntarily has the vehicle inspected, repaired, and maintained at a repair shop or the like after diagnosis information of an abnormality in the vehicle is transmitted to the management station, the management station does not know that the vehicle to which the abnormality diagnosis information is transmitted has been repaired. If notification of completion of repair is sent too late, an improper and useless process for demanding a repair again is executed to the repaired vehicle.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a diagnosis system for a vehicle, in which the battery power consumption is minimized although the apparatus is constructed so as to always respond to a transmission request from a management station.
It is another object of the invention to provide a diagnosis system and method for a vehicle, in which battery power consumption is minimized and a diagnosis result indicative of an abnormality can be transmitted to a management station outside of the vehicle without fail.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a diagnosis system and method for a vehicle, which can eliminate an improper and useless process executed between a management station which receives abnormality diagnosis information and a vehicle, when inspection, repair, or maintenance is performed according to abnormality diagnosis information of the vehicle.
According to the invention, control units for controlling various devices mounted on the vehicle diagnose the conditions of the various devices and the result of the diagnosis is transmitted to an external management station outside of the vehicle by a communication unit connected to the control units via a communication line. The control units and the communication unit operate by electric power supplied from a battery. Since the diagnosis system is constructed so that the electric power necessary for an ordinary operation is always supplied from the battery to the communication unit, the communication unit can always transmit a diagnosis result in response to a transmission request from the management station.
The system is constructed so that the state can be switched between a state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied from the battery to the control units and a state where the electric power is not supplied. A supply state is set to the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied from the battery to the control unit while the vehicle is used. On the other hand, during the vehicle is not used, the supply state is switched to the state where the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is not supplied from the battery to the control unit. When the vehicle is not used, the vehicle-mounted engine is stopped, and the battery is not charged, the supply of the electric power to the control units is reduced (or stopped), so that the battery power is accordingly less consumed.
According to the invention, electronic control units for controlling various devices mounted on the vehicle diagnose the conditions of the various devices and store the result of diagnosis. A communication unit connected to the control units via a communication line transmits the diagnosis result acquired from the control units to the management station outside of the vehicle. The control and communication units operate by the electric power supplied from a battery charged by the driving of the vehicle-mounted engine.
The system is constructed so that the state can be switched between a state where the electric power necessary for an ordinary operation is supplied from the battery to the control unit and a state where the electric power is not supplied. When a diagnosis result indicative of an abnormality, which has not been outputted yet is stored in the control unit, the state is so set that the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is supplied. On the other hand, when the diagnosis result indicative of an abnormality, which has not been outputted yet is not stored in the control unit, the state is so set that the electric power necessary for the ordinary operation is not supplied.
Furthermore, according to the invention, when abnormality diagnosis information based on an abnormal condition diagnosed by the vehicle itself is transmitted by a radio communication from the vehicle to a management station side and the abnormality of the vehicle corresponding to the abnormality diagnosis information is solved or repaired, information indicating that the abnormality is repaired is transmitted likewise by the radio communication from the vehicle to the management station. When the vehicle abnormality diagnosis information is received by the management station and then the information indicating that the abnormality has been repaired is received, the demand of the inspection, repair, or maintenance of the vehicle sent from the management station to the user can be omitted, so that the useless process between the vehicle and the management station can be eliminated. When the abnormality diagnosis information based on an abnormality diagnosed by the vehicle itself is transmitted from the vehicle to the management station by the radio communication and the abnormality of the vehicle is solved (repaired) on the basis of the contents of an instruction which is adapted to the abnormality diagnosis information and is received by the user; the information indicating that the abnormality has been solved is transmitted similarly from the vehicle to the management station by the radio communication. The abnormality repair information based on the contents of the instruction of the inspection, repair, or maintenance of the vehicle to the user side in response to the abnormality diagnosis information of the vehicle received by the management station is received, thereby enabling the state of completion of the contents of the instruction sent from the management station to the vehicle to be accurately known.